Student Activism in the 1930s
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ASU Memoirs

American Student Union Memoirs


50th and 25 National Reunion--ASU and SDS--1986

Monroe Sweetland

1. Early in 1934 my travels organizing the Student LID "Strikes Against War" took me to Cleveland. There was action planned at the downtown City College and even among the engineers at Case. Even at somewhat-stuffy Flora Stone Mather College, the women's campus at Western Reserve, there was unexpectedly a militant, artful coterie ready to wage a demonstration against war. But an apprehensive University administration stood opposed to a placard-carrying, noisy event on the campus, with the probability of press attention and wide publicity.

2. By the time I arrived on campus the students had plans well advanced for the outdoor rally and class boycott, sure to be a visible part of the nation-wide observances. The Dean of Students summoned the two or three key LID leaders to his office the day I showed up, and they thought I should accompany them to Dean Leutner's office in spite of my misgivings at the intrusion of an uninvited off-campus 'agitator.'

3. The Dean tactfully presented the delegation a counterproposal making the Chapel available for their anti-war 'strike.'

4. "In the Chapel," the Dean said, "the accommodations are comfortable, the speakers can be heard, and at high noon all the demonstrators could rise for two-minutes of dynamic silence as the climax of the protest against war."

5. Unprepared for this overture, the girls looked at each other and at me, but the suspense was broken by their leader, the gentle, demure Ernestine Friedl.

6. "Dean Leutner," she quietly stated, "we all appreciate your cooperative attitude, but there is one problem. We are trying to make an effective statement against ROTC and the war system, one that will register with the students and the general public. You know, Dean, we will have to reject your offer. There are just a lot of people out there who can't tell a 'dynamic silence' from any other kind."

7. In a long life of public activity during the 54 years since that day, I have many times reminded myself of this incident when proposals have been offered to mute protest or to blunt dissent.

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